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The first Washington State legal assisted suicide has happened. C and C, of course, promptly issued a press release. From the story:

The woman, Linda Fleming, 66, of Sequim, Wash., on the Olympic Peninsula, died Thursday evening after taking lethal medication prescribed by a doctor under the law, according to a news release by the group, Compassion and Choices of Washington. The release said the woman received a diagnosis of Stage 4 pancreatic cancer a month ago, and “she was told she was actively dying.”

Ms. Fleming was quoted in the release as saying: “I am a very spiritual person, and it was very important to me to be conscious, clear-minded and alert at the time of my death. The powerful pain medications were making it difficult to maintain the state of mind I wanted to have at my death.”
Often early pain control can cause these symptoms, but as the body acclimates, often more cogency returns.

Be that as it may, once again we see that assisted suicide isn’t about suffering that can’t otherwise be alleviated. That is just the baloney C and C slices to sell the agenda. If Oregon is the template, once people have swallowed the hemlock, that justification evaporates into the ether as the death group facilitates the overwhelming majority of the hastened life endings regardless of the potential for effective palliation and available interventions that can help with the important issues of emotional distress and mental health.


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